Titus writes:
I was encouraged by some readers of my blog on Yo La Tengo, who despite saying that they hadn’t previously heard of them, nonetheless enjoyed the band’s music. You’re right – they are a very talented band and I get the impression from talking to lex, that you may not have heard the last of them on his programme. Time alone will tell.
By way of stark contrast, this week I am talking about another favourite of mine – New Zealand band, The Datsuns. When I first heard them and then the White Stripes, it underlined to me that loud, raucous rock’n’roll was not dead. I would never denigrate the White Stripes, and they quite rightly attained the true recognition they deserved. The Datsuns however, (in broad terms just like Northern Ireland’s Would Be’s that I mentioned months ago) never got QUITE the same attention, yet played an astonishingly energetic brand of hard rock / garage rock. They did a session for the John Peel Show on 1 May 2002, and it was a live one with an enthusiastic audience, broadcast at Maida Vale Studios in London. Just before the first encore, the great man, quite audibly emotional, said “Well I tell you what brothers and sisters, this programme doesn’t win awards, in fact it doesn’t get nominated for awards, but I just know, (and I know this must sound a bit big headed) that this is the best radio programme on Earth, 'coz we bring you people like The Datsuns'. What a tribute from alternative music ‘royalty’, in my opinion. Months before this session, “Dolf” had compiled a hand written letter to Peely – “Dear Mr Peel.....blah, blah blah” and enclosed the band’s first 2 seven inch singles. Peel liked what he heard, and as they say “the rest is history”.
The group was originally called The Trinkets, and was formed at secondary school in Cambridge, New Zealand by Rudolf “Dolf” de Borst (vocals, bass), Matt Osement (drums), & Phil Somervell (guitar) in 1995. Christian Livingstone joined in 1997 as their second guitarist, and the following year, they changed the band’s name to The Datsuns. After supporting The Hellacopters, The Smugglers and the White Stripes, the group released their first single ‘Super Gyration’ in 2000 on their own label, Hellsquad Records. This was only available on 7” vinyl – IMO a brilliant & bold decision at a time when vinyl’s popularity was middling at best.
By way of stark contrast, this week I am talking about another favourite of mine – New Zealand band, The Datsuns. When I first heard them and then the White Stripes, it underlined to me that loud, raucous rock’n’roll was not dead. I would never denigrate the White Stripes, and they quite rightly attained the true recognition they deserved. The Datsuns however, (in broad terms just like Northern Ireland’s Would Be’s that I mentioned months ago) never got QUITE the same attention, yet played an astonishingly energetic brand of hard rock / garage rock. They did a session for the John Peel Show on 1 May 2002, and it was a live one with an enthusiastic audience, broadcast at Maida Vale Studios in London. Just before the first encore, the great man, quite audibly emotional, said “Well I tell you what brothers and sisters, this programme doesn’t win awards, in fact it doesn’t get nominated for awards, but I just know, (and I know this must sound a bit big headed) that this is the best radio programme on Earth, 'coz we bring you people like The Datsuns'. What a tribute from alternative music ‘royalty’, in my opinion. Months before this session, “Dolf” had compiled a hand written letter to Peely – “Dear Mr Peel.....blah, blah blah” and enclosed the band’s first 2 seven inch singles. Peel liked what he heard, and as they say “the rest is history”.
The group was originally called The Trinkets, and was formed at secondary school in Cambridge, New Zealand by Rudolf “Dolf” de Borst (vocals, bass), Matt Osement (drums), & Phil Somervell (guitar) in 1995. Christian Livingstone joined in 1997 as their second guitarist, and the following year, they changed the band’s name to The Datsuns. After supporting The Hellacopters, The Smugglers and the White Stripes, the group released their first single ‘Super Gyration’ in 2000 on their own label, Hellsquad Records. This was only available on 7” vinyl – IMO a brilliant & bold decision at a time when vinyl’s popularity was middling at best.
In 2006, Matt Osement was replaced by Ben Cole, and the group relocated to Germany, completing a European tour to promote their third album ‘Smoke & Mirrors’, selling out most venues. A couple of years later the band decided that the title of their fourth LP should be an anagram of The Datsuns – ‘Headstunts’, and this was promoted via a tour of the UK, Australasia, & North America. After a further four years of gigging and touring, The Datsuns released ‘Death Rattle Boogie’ in 2012, which was recorded in Stockholm, and was closely followed by ‘Deep Sleep’ in 2014. After a long period of inactivity (I’m unsure as to what the band was doing for 7 years), a seventh album ‘Eye to Eye’ completed their LP releases in 2021.
Peely continued to support The Datsuns until his death in 2004, and fittingly the band paid a massive tribute to him, by joining with other musicians, in covering the Buzzcocks’ ‘Ever Fallen in Love’ which was released as a single in 2005. I could quite easily completely fill lex’s show with Datsuns’ tunes, but the track I have chosen is ‘Gods are bored’ from their 2012 ‘Death Rattle Boogie’ album.